Sunday Conversation: Ecclesiastes: God is Not Vapor

Welcome to Heaven Earth Church.

My name is Ross Stackhouse.

I'm the founding pastor of Heaven Earth Church.

From the beginning, our heart was to be a church for people who

don't fit neatly into church.

Our heart is to meet people where they are, to learn their stories,

to honor their stories.

Because in every human story is God's story.

In this podcast you'll hear more about the people who now call

Heaven Earth Church home.

Their stories in many cases of misfits who are discovering or rediscovering

faith.

If you want to know more about us, you can go to heavenorthchurch.org

Otherwise, we invite you now into the story.

Hello good people.

Brad Miller here, the producer of the Heaven Earth Church podcast.

One of the main benefits of being a part of the Heaven Earth

Church community is our Sunday morning conversations taught by founding

pastor Ross Stackhouse.

You can watch and participate in the Sunday morning conversation

this Sunday morning, 9:30am Eastern time at YouTube.com heavenorthchurch.

The audio version of the Sunday morning conversation is available

here on the podcast, which you can find at Apple Podcasts, Spotify

and on the website, which is heavenerthchurch.org now with a message

from the book of Ecclesiastes.

God is not vapor.

His Heaven Earth Church Pastor Ross Stackhouse.

Lord, will you help us to hear your heart, to see ourselves the

way you do, to see others the way you do.

And Lord, help us to accept the gift of your grace in Jesus Christ

and to live for this good news that all things will be made new

in Jesus name.

Amen.

So I want to take you back to.

I believe I've got it in here.

I know I definitely do.

From last week, one of the.

We're in a.

We're in a series called the Search for Meaning.

We've been looking at a book of the Bible called Ecclesiastes,

which is in the wisdom literature of the Bible.

It's that section of the Bible in the library of scriptures is kind

of folks who are like, we thought we knew how things worked

in the world and now we're not so sure.

And so Ecclesiastes, as Tim Mackey says from the Bible projects,

like a thought experiment where he's really trying to figure

out, like, man, what can I count on?

Is there anything that I can count on?

As it seems to me he uses this word all the time.

If you remember from last week, let's try it again in case

you're ever on Jeopardy and you need to pull this one out of

the on the count of three, One, two, three.

Anybody remember what that means?

Yes.

Last week I lit the candle back there and blew it out and the

smoke rose up.

Yeah, it's like a vapor that you can see it, it's there, but you

can't grab a hold of it, and then it's gone rather quickly.

The writer of Ecclesiastes is really frustrated that that seems

to be how the world works.

It's like he looks around and there's nothing that you can count

on, nothing that's.

That lasts, nothing that has meaning, reliable.

But he has this feeling, though.

He says God has made everything fitting in its time, but

also has placed eternity in their hearts, our hearts, but without

enabling us to discover what has gone from the.

From beginning, has done from beginning to the end.

So part of where we're ending today is that in spite of all of

his frustration, he has this.

This conviction that no.

No matter how much I try to shake it, God's fingerprints are

on everything.

Everything.

I encounter it so often that God's fingerprints are there.

God is there.

I. I almost wish I could quit it, but I can't.

And so I want to ask you, if you're new to us.

I actually want your responses on this.

You can holler it out as we've got a fairly large group.

Maybe don't take like 10 minutes.

Maybe more like 10 to 20 seconds.

What's happened in your life in the last week or two where you

noticed God, something happened or you saw something, where

you're like, I'm not sure, but I think God is behind that, and I'm

grateful for it.

Yes, yes.

Kara was adopted and she happened to pull out all the adoption

paperwork yesterday, and she was like, man, God's fingerprints

are all over that.

Can't deny it.

What else?

Healing.

You just see, you feel, you've experienced healing, and you sense

God's fingerprints are on that.

What else?

Something you're grateful for that you're like, man, I'm not sure.

I might be wrong, but, boy, I feel like God is in this.

This was from God.

Melissa, February is a hard month.

Anybody not you're not wanting time to go away, but anybody you'd

be glad to see winter just move on out.

I mean, I'm with you, but Melissa got a call from her mom,

and she was just renewed with joy, bubbly.

And that was just.

You saw God in that.

What else?

Where do you.

Where did you see God?

You're not sure, but God's fingerprints were on it.

Dina.

Yeah, you.

And where do you work again?

Dina?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

Dina works over on the west side, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

What time do you have to get up in the morning to leave?

You get up at 4 o' clock in the morning and leave at 5 to start

work at.

At 7.

Dean, I'm not going to complain about my days anymore.

Okay.

She, but she had people at work that just said, like, hey, when

I'm in your presence, I. I feel warm.

There's something going on there.

And you just feel like God's working through you or is present

in you.

Yeah.

Christie.

Yeah.

Yes.

When God puts someone on, your heart just keeps putting them there

and it, it forges this connection.

Like God's moving you to somebody online, people.

Hello.

Thank you for the answer, but let's hear more.

There was only one.

I know you're out there.

Okay, I'll share one, then we'll transition.

I. I grew up with a bird watching person and so I inherited

that nerdiness.

So when I see a bald eagle, it's like I won a thousand dollars.

I just.

I don't know why.

I love it.

The last 30 days, I've probably seen 20 of them.

I've seen Tuesday, I was running and one was flying over.

I was driving on 65.

On Thursday, there were two in a tree.

And it just like I thought of that verse in Scripture about how

they will soar on wings like eagles.

I don't know what God's trying to tell me, but definitely showed

up.

Yes, I am looking at birds while I'm driving.

Yes.

Yes.

I certainly wouldn't take a picture of a bird while I'm driving.

Anyways, what I want to share with you today is a couple things

that as we're going to close up this little short series on Ecclesiastes

1 this guy is struggling with man.

Everything seems to be vapor.

There's nothing I can count on.

There's nothing that lasts.

There's nothing that has meaning.

But he does start to inch towards this one truth.

When it's all said and done, there is a rock upon which I can

stand, and he is not vapor.

Does he feel extraordinarily comforted by that idea?

No, because this book is about wrestling with stuff.

It's different.

It's not like all the, the tension goes away, but he starts

to go like you just demonstrated.

Like, there are these things that I see that I. I know God is

there.

I know God is in it.

I cannot deny it.

And so there are a couple things that I want to say to you

today that are more that's the one thing.

If you forget everything and I bore you to tears and put you to

sleep.

May you remember that and may it bless you this week.

Now some more stuff.

He starts to inch towards something that is so important in

the field of recovery.

There's a word in recovery.

That's the beginning of recovery.

Step one is always the move from denial to anyone acceptance.

He starts to realize that there are some truths about our mortality

and how the world is not as it should be that he doesn't want to

accept, but there's freedom in accepting it.

I once had a therapist say something to me that I felt like

you.

That's what your degree taught you it.

But it was frustrating how obvious it was, but how it was true

for me.

He said to me, ross, the harder we fight against reality,

the more anxious we will be.

I keep thinking of that.

That's too.

You shouldn't have to go to school to get that insight.

I don't think he did.

But there's that.

But then there's the second part, which starts to emerge.

In Ecclesiastes, there are truths, capital T truths about God,

about God's beauty, goodness and justice that we can count on

and are worth giving our lives to.

Both things are true.

There are truths lower t that the harder we fight against them,

the more kind of frustrated we're going to be about our mortality

and about kind of the shape of the world.

But then there are still these capital T truths about God's beauty,

goodness and justice that we can count on, and they're worth giving

our lives to.

We will experience both in this life.

I wanted to share a little insight from.

That's a lot of text.

I'll bet you can't read.

That's going to make you.

Your eyes start spinning.

But there's a story in the big book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

Love that book.

Love that book.

And there's a story about acceptance in it.

Long story short, the backstory, if you want it.

In fact, whoever gets the trivia question we have later, I'm

going to give you a prize.

It's a copy of the story.

Melissa Bryant will sign it, she'll autograph it, and then you

can have it.

Okay.

It'll be worth a lot of money.

But the backstory is there's a guy that was a pharmacist, very accomplished.

He tells the story of how he was married for 28 years and his

marriage was eroding.

Why?

Because he was becoming a hopeless addict, drinking a lot.

He was using uppers during the Day and then using downers to help

him sleep, self sleep at night.

Hopeless addict.

And he ended up in a.

In a mental institution at which he actually worked not once,

but twice.

And someone whispered into his ear, like, hey, have you considered

an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting?

And he's like this schmuck, I don't need it.

I'm not an alcoholic.

But then he stumbled into the meetings and.

And he actually weaned off the drugs and the alcohol.

But it wasn't till seven months of the meetings that he had

this epiphany.

He started looking around at the people in that room and he said,

the people of AA had something that looked much better than what

I had.

But I was afraid to let go of what I had in order to try something

new.

Let's just mentally bold that, underline it and put it in italics.

If I were slick, I would have actually done that on the slide,

because you can do such a thing.

But I was afraid to let go of what I had in order to try something

new.

There was a certain sense of security in the familiar.

Do you know at all what he's talking about?

Security in the familiar?

I know that's foreign to all of us.

At last, acceptance proved to be the key to my drinking problem.

I was finally able to say, okay, God, it is true that I, of

all people, strange as it may seem, and even though I didn't give

my permission, really, really am an alcoholic of sorts.

And it's all right with me.

Now what am I going to do about it?

When I stopped living in the problem and began living in the answer,

the problem went away.

From that moment on, I have not had a single compulsion to drink.

And acceptance is the answer to all my problem.

Look, if we start practicing acceptance, all of our problems aren't

going.

Going away.

It doesn't work like that for drinking.

It can.

But what he still tells in this story is that when he first

got into the psychiatric institution, he was saying, I don't

want to talk about my drinking.

I want to talk about all my big problems that I actually have.

That's what I need to talk about.

And he said once he accepted he had a drinking problem, I.

All those big problems he realized, were seen through the lens

of his alcoholism.

Why am I saying all this to you?

I believe that for us there is a threshold, like a doorway, if you

will, between us and the beginning of a new life for which

we are destined.

And that threshold is acceptance of truths we don't want

to accept.

They're distasteful to us.

They seem unfair.

They're overwhelming.

And nonetheless, facing them and accepting him is the beginning

of our healing and freedom.

Truth number one, we don't want to accept.

Are you ready for it?

Anyone want to guess what it is?

You're gonna die.

And I am too.

From ash we came, and to ash we shall return.

From dust we came, into dust we shall return.

Aren't you so glad you came to church today to be encouraged with

your winter bl.

I have winter blues, and Ross came and reminded me that I'm going

to be dead.

Yeah, this is the good news of Jesus.

No, the good news of Jesus is that he holds the keys to death in

Hades, that he's crushed death, so we are free.

But that's not the sermon for today.

That's Easter Sunday.

Hang on for that one.

So I want to show you.

I want to show you how.

Like some verses in Ecclesiastes.

Because I have a hunch about what this guy might actually be struggling

with.

Yes, he's struggling with that.

He's like, I searched for wisdom.

I got all this wisdom, and that's vapor.

It stinks.

I'm actually more frustrated the more that I know.

I wish I didn't know these things, and I might be more happy

with my ignorance.

Ignorance is bliss.

He doesn't say that, but he kind of suggests that.

He's like, you know what?

Then after that, I just tried to party.

I went to Las Vegas with all my friends, and we spent all of our

money and we did some bad things.

And that too, just made me feel worthless.

He tries all this stuff and he says, it's a vowel, it's vapor.

It's all meaningless.

But I think there's something deep down.

I'm going to show you some verses and see what you think.

This is in chapter one.

What do people gain from all the hard work that they work so hard

at?

Under the sun, a generation comes goes, and a generation comes,

but the earth's earth remains as it always has.

Later, in verse or chapter two.

The wise have eyes in their head, but fools walk in darkness.

But I also realize that the same fate happens to both of them.

So I thought to myself, what happens to the fool will also happen

to me.

So why have I been so very wise?

I said to myself, this too is.

Are you with me?

Have I already put you to sleep?

Oh, this too is.

Or that.

There is no eternal memory of the wise any more than the foolish.

Because everyone is forgotten before long.

How can the wise die?

Just like the Fool.

I hated the things I worked so hard for here under the sun.

Because I will have to leave them to some, he says elsewhere,

some idiot, someone who comes after me.

Chapter six.

Because who knows what good for human beings?

Who knows what's good for human beings during life, during

their brief.

He says it like 40 times.

He's having a rough day, rough life which will pass away like a

shadow.

Who can say what the future holds for people under the sun?

Here's chapter seven.

It's better to go to a house in mourning than to a house party.

Because that is everyone's destiny and the living should take

it to heart.

Chapter nine.

This is the sad thing about all that happens under the sun.

The same fate awaits everyone.

Moreover, the human heart is full of evil, people's minds are

full of madness while they are alive.

And afterward they die.

You ever heard the phrase life sucks and then you die?

Basically.

Chapter nine, verse three.

Yeah, I know.

This isn't my fault.

This is his fault.

Today I want to show you what's in the Bible, so that when

you go read the Bible in your own time, you don't quit.

Who is he again?

Angela asks.

This is attributed to a guy by the name of King Solomon, who was

the son of King David, the most famous king in the history of

Israel.

Let's go there.

Did King Solomon actually write these things?

Probably not, because the timing that we know this was probably

written.

Now, you might say this makes it unreliable, right?

No, in ancient history it was very common.

We think it would be untruthful.

But oftentimes in ancient history, people would write things

and attribute them to the voice of an author that they thought

the thoughts well represented.

Are you with me?

For people in ancient history, this made it no more.

It didn't make it any less truthful.

This is attributed to Solomon because Solomon was regarded as such

a wise guy.

Now let me flip the script.

Could Solomon have actually written these things?

Sure, maybe.

Nonetheless, as we talked about in last series, God gave us

this library of scriptures.

God's breath is in them.

God has given us these words above all else to wrestle with them,

through which we discover God's heart.

And we live as God intends us to live.

Okay?

It's Angela's fault that that rabbit trail happened.

Now, nine, ten.

Whatever you are capable of doing, do with all your might.

Because there's no work, thought, knowledge or wisdom in the

grave, which is where you are headed.

What's this guy actually struggling with?

Of all things, what is vapor?

Him.

He is.

He's wrestling with I am vapor.

I can't escape it.

And what am I going to do about that?

Just like the alcoholic said in the big book, he said, okay, God,

it is true that I have all people, strange as it may seem, even

though I didn't give permission.

Really, really am an alcoholic of sorts.

And that's all right with me.

Now, what am I going to do about it for us?

We could switch out a couple of words there.

Okay, God, it is true that I have all people, strange as it may

seem, even though I didn't give my permission.

Really, really am going to die.

And it's with me.

Not really.

Now what am I going to do about it?

Did you know that in the Eastern Orthodox Church, in the really

quick, stay with me, quick history thing, I don't want to bore

you to tears, so just hang with me for a minute.

We, out here in our neck of the woods, exist in the legacy of

Western Christianity.

What is the main problem in Western Christianity?

Anyone take a guess?

Original sin.

Well, that isn't true.

In all the history of Christianity and everywhere in Eastern

Christianity, the big bad problem is this great enemy, death

and our fear of mortality.

So much of our lives are spent running and escaping and sinning

out of fear of our mortal condition.

This guy is struggling with how he is mortal.

So what's he going to do about it?

All right, can we move towards some hope now?

Are you up for that?

Listen, I can only give you what he says at the end of the book,

which is moderately hopeful, okay?

But guess what?

Stay.

Come here for Lent and be here on April 5th.

That is a wildly hopeful day.

Do you know what April 5th is?

Easter.

It is the foundation of our hope.

It is the epicenter of Christianity.

Jesus is alive.

He has risen from the dead.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

That is good news.

We're not there yet, so I want to show you something.

He actually starts practicing acceptance here.

And I know this doesn't seem hopeful, but I want to show you how

I believe it is.

I think he shows us there's freedom in looking mortality in the

face and living in courage in the.

In the midst of it.

He says, remember your creator in your prime.

Can you repeat that phrase?

Now say it again like it's something exciting to you.

Go ahead.

Before the days of trouble arrive and those years about which

you'll say, I'll take no pleasure in these.

Before the sun and the light grow dark, the moon and the stars

too, before the clouds return after the rain, Ross, this isn't

hopeful.

What's going on?

On the day when the housekeepers tremble and the strong

men stoop, when the woman who grinds stop working because there's

so few and those who look through the windows grow dim when

the doors to the street are shut, when the sound of the mill

fades, the sound of the bird rises and all the singers come down

low.

When people are afraid of things above and terrors along the

way when the almond tree blanches, the locust droops and the

caper berry comes to nothing, when the human goes to the eternal

abode, when the mourners all around in the street before the silver

cord snaps and the gold bowl shatters, the jar is broken at the

spring and the wheel is crushed at the pit.

Before the dust returns to the earth as it was before and the life

breath returns to God who gave it.

Ross, where in the world is the hope in this?

Huh?

What word is missing in verses 1 through 7?

Remember I told you sometimes in the Bible you look for the patterns

and then you look for the break in the patterns.

Well, this one's missing.

He had every opportunity.

He said it everywhere else.

He could have thrown it in there a couple more times, but in

this case he stopped.

I believe when you're paying attention to the tone of the book,

he's now moved past.

He shows us what it looks like to do some spiritual wrestling and

arrive at something of acceptance and move to deeper faith.

He's accepting here in verse one.

This is the way that the world is.

This place is not as it should be.

Things wither, trouble arrives.

Sometimes it's winter and the sun and the light grow dark.

This is part of our lives.

And yet he says we can remember this creator, we can remember

that verse 12.

This little poem he says, starts with a thought and ends with

a thought.

12.

Remember your Creator in your prime and remember the light who

gave the life breath.

This is not like, have you ever had this feeling?

Or when someone comes up to you and you like, say, boy, my hip

is really hurting today.

And someone who's 83 says, well, it gets a lot worse from here.

Or when you have kids, you're like, man, my two year old is really

just being a terror right now.

Then some of the teenager goes, it gets a lot worse from here.

That's not this.

It's not like, hey, you better remember God while it's good, because

it's going to get real bad from here.

No, this is true wisdom.

It's like, you know, we tend to start thinking about God when

there's a phrase that comes to mind that has a bad word in it and

I shall not use it.

We tend to think about God when the poop hits the fan, when

things go poorly, then, as Tim Mackey says, we realize what our

expectations are about God, what our expectations have been about

God.

When they're in pieces on the floor, then we go, God, where have

you been?

When things were going well, were we praying?

Were we remembering God in our prime?

So he's saying, hey, when things are well, turn your eyes to

the Creator.

Remember your origin.

Take a big deep breath in, will ya?

And breathe it out one more time.

Do it again.

It's crazy how deep breathing has the power to regulate your whole

nervous system.

This breath you have in your lungs, remember that from the very

beginning there was someone who gave it to you.

Remember that in your prime, days of trouble will come.

But if you can remember God in your prime, it will help you remember

God.

When you're not in your prime, when you have to accept that hard

thing that you're going to die, your life is fleeting.

And yet God remains.

See, he's kind of asking this question.

What he's struggling with, Ecclesiastes, is ultimately a crisis

of faith.

You ever had one of those?

Anybody had a crisis of faith in the room?

Anyone having one right now?

Hmm?

The hope in this is this writer shows us what to do with your

crisis of faith.

Don't just sit back on your heels.

Write it out.

Scream it out.

I'm sick of this.

I'm sick of this pointless life.

I'm sick of how everything is vapor.

I'm sick of how in the place of righteousness, there's wickedness.

In the place of where there should be right things, there's wrong

things.

I'm s. Sick of it.

I'm sick of how the wicked prosper and the righteous, they.

They're cursed.

I'm over it.

And God, where are you?

He shows us like, is God going to run away if you do all that?

Is God going to run for.

For the hills and say, I'm done with you, Mark.

You should have had more faith when the trouble came.

I'll repeat it again.

40% of the Psalms, the largest book in the Bible, are expressions

of sorrow.

40%.

So if you're complaining.

Anybody been complaining a lot lately?

Huh?

You've been whining?

Having a pity party?

Anyone?

Come on, show of hands.

Who's been whining a lot recently?

It's okay.

Turn it To God.

Turn your whining, but also your heartfelt, earnest expressions

of sorrow to God.

God, why are you letting all this evil happen to innocent people?

Let God have a chance to be in the room with you.

In the midst of your complaint, as I've told you, I heard

Marilyn Elliott say laments are trying to stay in the room with

God without pretending everything is okay.

This guy shows us that.

And so by the end, you know what?

He's able to wholeheartedly and earnestly say he believes this.

I don't think that this is like he's saying this because it's

like religious duty.

I gotta say this because I'm a religious guy and I'm writing stuff

that they're gonna put in a book someday that are going to read.

So I better write something good by the end.

No, I think he's really worked it out.

I think he's asking like, can I still trust God even though I must

accept that I'm mortal and this world is not as it should be?

It's not the way I expect it to be.

It's not the way I thought I thought it was going to be.

Can I still trust God?

Is God still a rock on which I can stand?

Is it still worthwhile to fear God?

Is it still worthwhile to follow God?

His answer is by the end.

Amen, brother.

He sure did.

He wrote truthful words, honestly, did not pull any punches.

These are the last words of the of the book.

The words of the wise are like iron tipped prods.

The collected sayings of the masters are like nails fixed firmly

by the shepherd.

He says, be careful, my child, of anything beyond.

There's no end to the exception.

So on.

So this is the end of the matter.

All has been heard.

He's done with his rant.

You know when people post on Facebook, these are my favorite social

media posts.

When someone does a long thing, they do a long post and at

the end they go, end rant.

Have you seen those?

I love reading those posts.

I'm joking.

I don't like reading those posts.

But he's done with it.

End rant.

Worship God and keep God's commandments because this is what

everyone must do.

I don't think here by the end he's saying we just got to do it

because we got to do it.

I think he's saying at the end of it all, I still think it's worth

it.

I don't have my answers.

I don't have like what I think, but I know this.

God's Fingerprints are on it all.

He says that throughout the book.

God is there.

I wish I could quit it, but God is there.

So even in the midst of frustration and absurdity, God's

presence is undeniable.

So the teacher is not giving up on God, but the teacher is contending

with his own mortality and his own and others assumptions about

how things work in this mortal life.

So sometimes I think once we have nothing left of our assumptions

and expectations, perhaps what we'll find is God.

He says even though what humans do will not last, what God

does will last.

He says God is still a rock on which I stand.

And so I wonder if for us and I'll end it here.

I wonder if that's what we're afraid of with our questions and

doubts.

If we go down that road, will we make it back?

I wonder if some of the churches that we are a part of there

was a collective avoidance of doubt and questioning.

They were telling you not to doubt.

Why?

Because they were afraid of their own doubts.

If I go down the road of my doubts and questions, will I make

it back?

Well, perhaps the goal isn't to make it back.

Did you think of that?

Maybe you're not supposed to make it back where you were.

Perhaps the goal is to make it to God, right?

Or even better, to stop.

So God makes it to us.

After all, God is always pursuing us, right?

Always.

So end rant.

Here's the one thing God is not that as Jesus once said, the

wise man is the guy who.

The person who puts my teachings into practice is like what?

Anyone know the wise man who built his house on what?

The winds came, the storm blew hard and the house stood.

That's basically the end of Ecclesiastes.

I don't have my answers, I don't have it all figured out.

But I believe what God does will last.

And so my conclusion is I'm going to keep fearing God and I'm

going to try to keep his instructions in my heart.

Live it out.

This is the end of the series.

I turn it over to you.

What's that stirring you?

What do you think?

Uh oh, that was a quick hand right over here.

She was waiting.

No, go ahead.

I don't think it's like because it's a rule.

I think it's because it's about alignment.

Like this is how we're like what we're supposed to do with our

lives as humans.

To be like in the vine and aligned with what we're supposed

to be with God.

And when we have that alignment Then we produce the fruits

of the spirit which are not havelifying and like.

Which God gives to us.

And then we can pour out into the world which is, like, lasting

and meaningful.

Well said.

And I'm not just saying that because you live with me.

I think that was a good one.

What else?

What's this stirring in you?

What you thinking?

What's your name, sir?

Jordan.

Welcome to heaven, earth.

This is a great way to get baptized by fire.

Speak up.

Yeah, right.

The only way out of a life of favel is following God.

That's where he ends up.

And I like what you said.

It's not just for him.

It's for all of humanity.

This is the gospel.

There's been too much.

Ooh.

Nope.

I'm going to shut up now because you're talking.

Go ahead.

About started preaching again.

I've already done it today.

Go ahead.

Anyone else?

What are you thinking?

Debbie?

Yes, my Lord.

Debbie.

Jesus, that's such a great thing to say.

Debbie says we.

Part of what he's frustrated with is like, he wants the garden,

like the Garden of Eden, but we're not there anymore.

We're in the wilderness in many ways.

But the good news is that, like, the garden is returning to

this earth and Christ has given us a share in bringing it.

So.

Yeah, but there's frustration along the way, and sometimes our

struggles.

Not always.

Sometimes our struggles have a way of, like, pointing us back to

God.

Right?

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Sometimes we're like, God, why aren't you doing anything?

And perhaps it's like, why aren't you doing anything?

I gave you my spirit.

I gave you life.

Yeah.

Anyone else?

Charles?

Yep.

Sure.

So Charles brings up, you know, how we help me if I don't get

this right, Charles?

But a lot of us are struggling with emotions that we're afraid to

confront, maybe give voice to.

We talked about that a lot.

In the ruthless elimination of hurry.

One of our best coping mechanisms, and by best, I mean worst,

is distraction.

We're trying to avoid some of those things, but also as we do that,

you know, trust is so helpful because it gives us a sense of security

to do some of that work.

Yeah, it's close.

Sorry, Charles.

I'll give you the mic next time.

Okay?

Okay.

Who else?

Yeah.

Yeah.

He's like, I'm not going to choose toxic positivity, but I am

going to choose to build my house on a rock and trust that, like,

it's going to be enough.

And in a way like that can give us a deeper depth of peace and

Joy that can help us to earnestly enjoy things in a different

sort of way.

I think.

I always think about how Jesus says.

It confounds me.

He says, I said these things to you, so my joy will be in you

and your joy will be complete.

I'm still figuring out, like, what the heck do you mean by that?

Anyone else over here?

Beth.

Yeah.

Right.

Yep.

Yeah, the Beth brought up the walk by the peace monks and how.

Or the peace walk by monks across the country and how.

There's.

There's some acceptance in that.

They're just putting one foot in front of the other and.

Yeah.

All right, well, I think we're done.

Are we done?

Okay, let's pray and then we'll have another.

Oh, yeah, daggone it.

We're gonna pray and then.

I got one.

I got an epilogue.

Sorry.

Let's pray.

Lord, thank you for that.

You are not vapor.

You are a rock on which we can stand.

You are an ever present help in trouble.

And though we may walk through a valley, you are there with us.

But not only that, you promise we are walking to a mountaintop with

you.

Because Christ has come to be with us, to save us and to restore

all of creation.

Give you thanks in his name.

Amen.

All right, thank you for participating in the conversation

happening at Heaven Earth Church.

Your next opportunity to do so live is this Sunday morning, 9:30am

Eastern Time, either at the main campus at 309 East Main in Whiteland,

Indiana, or online at YouTube Live.

That'[email protected] heavenerthchurch.

The audio podcast is always available at Apple Podcast and on

Spotify.

You can help others find out about the Heaven Earth Church podcast

by going to Apple Podcasts and or Spotify and leaving a five star

rating and your review.

Instructions on how to do just that and links are in the show notes.

You can always find out more by going to the church website, heavenearthchurch.org

we.

Want to thank you for spending time with us today.

My name is Ross Stackhouse, the pastor to Heaven Earth Church.

And you may think out there that your story is over, but in fact,

your faith story may just be beginning.

If you want more information about our church or you're interested

in the next step, you can go to heavenorthchurch.org Otherwise,

we look forward to being with you next time at the Heaven Earth

Church podcast.